"Records say when the first plows sliced through the great Midwestern prairie, a popping sound rang through the air like a volley of pistol shots. It was the sound of millions of roots snapping against the plow's steel blade."

"The U.S. Chemical Safety Board investigated only one out of 27 fatal accidents in the last fiscal year, part of a five-year slide that saw the agency fail to probe more than 90 percent of workplace fatalities, U.S. EPA's inspector general said in a report released yesterday."

"Every place has its own sound. A small group of scientists is hard at work recording the natural sounds of national parks all across the U.S. — more than 70 soundscapes so far."

"Scientists have discovered a large helium gas field in Tanzania."

"Federal, state, and local officials gathered at the Greenwich Village site of the 1969 riots that became a watershed moment in the struggle for gay rights, and unveiled a new sign commemorating the Stonewall National Monument."

"STEPHENSON, Mich. — Michigan officials are weighing the possibility of an open pit mine in the western Upper Peninsula, and Native Americans, residents and environmental groups fear it will pollute water and cultural resources."

"New Mexico has filed a lawsuit against Colorado in the nation’s highest court alleging the state should be held responsible for the Gold King Mine spill and its handling of the contaminants that have leached from surrounding mines for decades."

"SALT LAKE CITY — A Stockton man described by prosecutors as the "commander of a citizen militia group" was indicted Thursday after allegedly trying to blow up a Bureau of Land Management cabin in Arizona."

"Believe it or not, we use more of this natural resource than any other except water and air. Sand is the thing modern cities are made of."

"Local sheriffs would be a poor fit to replace Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service law enforcement officers, an Interior Department official said in a letter yesterday to House Natural Resources ranking member Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.)."